The bountiful wind kept blowing strong as we entered our final day of the KTA Finals in Boracay, Philippines. We started with the freestyle finals! After climbing her way to 3rd yesterday, Dina Muldasheva (Russia) was stopped by Brunotti rider Kathrin Borgwardt (Germany) who went on to ride against Cabrinha rider Aya Oshima (Japan) in the ever familiar battle that has continued throughout the tour year. Aya proved to have more style and power, all though not a quick decision by the judges, she took 1st.

The men’s freestyle was big air, big tricks, big crashes! Ken Nacor, a favorite local rider on this beach, beat K!NN Pro rider team Long Ngyuen Duc (Vietnam), yesterday to take the 3rd seat. Long had won third in Thailand at the last KTA round. Now he was up against reigning Asian Men’s Champion Yo-Narapichit Pudla (Thailand). Both riders came out with huge tricks, trick for trick one would copy the other. After many crashes their trick programs began to be more individualistic. Another tough heat to judge, Yo ended up winning due to having more power and lower kite placement. Yo went on to contend with Mike “The Knife” Blomvall, a Nobile rider from Sweden.

Course racing was captivating. It was a thrill seeing the fleet move towards the starting line, slowly at first then quicker and quicker with eager faces full of intensity. Three races were run, the first full of tangles before the start with many disqualified for crossing the start line to early. The second had another mess of tangles after the start line. The crowd were on the edge of their seats watching with anticipation for the moments when Yo would pull ahead of World Champion, Cabrinha rider, Bruno Sroka (France). The second race presented the biggest of these moments when Yo beat Bruno over the finish line. “I feel very happy. This is my dream, that 1 day I’m going to beat Bruno. So my dream came true!”

Rebecka Maudal (Norway) who had been leading the women’s TT class had 2 bad experiences in the first 2 races with line tangles by other riders. “In the 2nd race I had to use my quick release and put my kite back together before starting again. In the 1st race an upwind rider crashed on me. I had to stop while they were able to keep riding. Then my kite flipped inside itself, eventually I was able to relaunch it and finish, but I had already lost to much time” reported Rebecka. But her overall performance still won her top spot on the podium.

The winners of the course racing for the men were Bruno, then Yo for 2nd, and Taner Aykurt (Turkey) for third. For the women it was Kathrin for 1st, Dina for 2nd, and Astrid Berz (Switzerland) for 3rd. For the men’s TT class it was William Bourget (France) for 1st, Ken Nacor (Philippines) for 2nd, and Pridu Null (Estonia) for 3rd. The women’s TT ended with Rebecka in 1st, Aya Oshima (Japan) for 2nd, and Helle Johansen (Denmark).

The Old Skool Project has also been keeping spectators and riders busy. With strong winds riders are able to compete at any time they wish to create the best overall show. Judged by each other, spectators, media, and official judges the winners for the women were Helle Johansen (Denmark) for first, Astrid Berz (Switzerland) got 2nd, and Kathrin won 3rd. For the men it was the godfather of Old Skool himself, Toby Braeuer (Germany), who took 1st, Taner who won 2nd, and Merck-Mino Marasigan (Philippines) who won 3rd.

As this event is also the finals, the overall tour champions for each discipline are as follows: